Centrifugal belt thrower

ABSTRACT

This centrifugal belt thrower is provided with pivoted vanes and supported in the discharge wheel, and in operation is extended substantially radially toward the belt but can pivot and retract from the belt as they encounter material carried on the belt.

United States Patent Alfred D. Siuden 1348 Kensington Place, Aurora,111. 60506 835,969

June 24, 1969 July 13, 1971 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No.635,197, May, 1967, now abandoned.

lnventor Appl No. Filed Patented RJEFLQAL E T HRQ 4 Claims, 5 DrawingFigs.

11.8. CI 239/669, 198/128, 222/407 Int. Cl A01c 17/00 Field of Search239/669,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,140,207 5/1915 Swift(198/128 UX) 1,782,996 11/1930 Moody..... (198/128 U X) 2,868,351 1/1959Hegmann ..(198/128UX) Primary Examiner-Lloyd L, King AssistantExaminerMichael Y. Mar Att0rney-Frank J Foley ACT: This centrifugal beltthrower is provided with pivoted vanes and supported in the dischargewheel, and in operation is extended substantially radially toward thebelt but can pivot and retract from the belt as they encounter materialcarried on the belt.

E BLEL QALBELI I ilLQYl ER- This application is a continuation-in-partof application Ser. No. 635,l97, filed May 1, I967, now abandoned. 1

Centrifugal belt throwers without vanes or with fixed vanes, as shown inFIGS. I and 2 have been used heretofore successfully, but when usingfixed vanes they must be fed from the incoming stream of material byintroducing it laterally into the central axial portion of the dischargewheel. That manner of introducing the material has a numberofdisadvantages, which are avoided in this invention, by the use ofpivoted vanes.

FIG. 1 shows in dotted lines a commercial form of centrifugal beltthrower, now old, having fixed vanes.

FIG. 2 shows in a central vertical cross section, on line 22 of FIG. 1,the same machine.

FIG. 3 is a vertical central sectional view, showing the thrower of thisinvention provided with pivotally mounted vanes. FIG. 4 is a sectionalview on line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a detail view, on an enlarged scale, of a single, pivotablevane provided with weighted reinforcing bars on its margin, whichadjoins the belt.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 the fixed vanes 11 in the discharge wheel 12 are fixedon the two end discs 13 and I4 which support the margins of the belt 15in the conventional manner. As explained in my aforementionedapplication of which this is a continuation-in-part, the belt 15 iswrapped partly around the wheel 11 and around the rollers I6, 17 and 18.The incoming material is delivered by chute l9 laterally into thecentral axial portion of wheel 12.

This older type of centrifugal thrower is in large commercial use, butis not shown in available patents. Hence it is portrayed herein toclearly show the state of the current most relevant active art, wherebythe advance made by thisinvention is more clearly illuminated.

The present invention is shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. It includes adischarge wheel 21, rollers 21 and 22, and a feed chute 23, whichdelivers incoming material directly into the periphery of the wheel anddirectly upon the belt.

' As each of the vanes 24 is pivotally supported on pins, such as 25,fixed in the wheel discs 26 and 27, carried by the shaft 28, theentering material may intercept the path of the outer margins of therapidly rotating wheel vanes 24. This is entirely feasible, as the vanesmerely yield rearwardly as they strike the incoming mass of material.

As belt throwers of this type may employ belt speeds of 3,000 to 4,000f.p.m., it will be apparent that the entering material will initially bemoving much slower than the margins of the vanes, and the vanes willyield rearwardly. However, the high-velocity wheel imposes a very largecentrifugal force on the pivoted vanes, always urging them toward morenearly radial positions, and they in turn apply force centrifugally tothe material, pressing it more compactly against the belt. The resultantincreased frictional reaction with the belt enables the belt toaccelerate the material usually up to or close to the belt speed, underthe combined action of pressure from the pivoted vanes and the inherentcentrifugal forces which act directly on the material itself. Thiscombined action is something new in the art ofcentrifugal belt throwing.

Stop blocks 29, flxed on the inner faces of the discs 26 and 27 may beemployed to prevent the vanes from ever reaching an exact radialposition at which they might possibly jam on some foreign object carriedon the belt 31.

To increase the centrifugal force which the vanes may acquire, it ispreferred that steel wearand weight bars 32 be added to the peripheralmargins of the vanes. Bolts 33 may be used to secure them on themargins, parallel to the surface of the belt. For varying operatingconditions the weights may be varied.

FIG. 3 shows that in operating the material on the belt moves up to ornear to the belt speed, and as this occurs the deflection of the vanesdecreases, by centrifugal action, and this enables the vanes to continueto apply centrifugal pressure to the more ra idly movin material.

Thus, the use 0 centrifugalFy acting, pivoted vanes is seen tocontribute to the elflciency and capacity of this centrifugal beltthrower.

It should be understood that this invention is not limited nor intendedto be limited to the illustrated details of construction, but embracessuch additions, modifications and variations of structure and materialas fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having shown and described my invention, I claim:

I. A centrifugal belt thrower comprising an endless belt,

a cylindrical discharge wheel having circular end walls and annularmeans thereon for supporting lateral margins of the belt,

a first and a second pulley positioned to hold the belt engaged with asubstantial peripheral arc of the wheel,

means for delivering particulate material through the peripheral marginsof the wheel onto the belt between said end walls,

means for propelling the wheel, pulleys and belt at high velocity tocause the material on the belt to be centrifugally pressed against thebelt and to be accelerated thereby and to be discharged tangentiallytherefrom in the vicinity of the second pulley,

and a plurality of angularly spaced-apart vane means having vanespivotally supported on the wheel near its axis and freely oscillatableabout each support with their outer margins radially extendable bycentrifugal force into proximity with the belt and exerting radialcentrifugal pressure on said material thus pressing the material againstthe belt but adapted to be retracted and swung freely out of radialposition by encounter with the material entering the wheel to permitpassage of the material under said margins onto the belt.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, in which the vane meanscomprise vanes individually pivotally mounted and independentlyoscillatable about such pivoted mountings.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, in which the vane meanscomprise vanes which are rigid and responsive to centrifugal force toseek a radial position during rapid rotation of the wheel.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, in which the vane meanscomprise vanes which are so freely oscillatable as to exert no forceupon the material on the belt in the absence of centrifugal forceresulting from rapid rotation of the wheel.

1. A centrifugal belt thrower comprising an endless belt, a cylindricaldischarge wheel having circular end walls and annular means thereon forsupporting lateral margins of the belt, a first and a second pulleypositioned to hold the belt engaged with a substantial peripheral arc ofthe wheel, means for delivering particulate material through theperipheral margins of the wheel onto the belt between said end walls,means for propelling the wheel, pulleys and belt at high velocity tocause the material on the belt to be centrifugally pressed against thebelt and to be accelerated thereby and to be discharged tangentiallytherefrom in the vicinity of the second pulley, and a plurality ofangularly spaced-apart vane means having vanes pivotally supported onthe wheel near its axis and freely oscillatable about each support withtheir outer margins radially extendable by centrifugal force intoproximity with the belt and exerting radial centrifugal pressure on saidmaterial thus pressing the material against the belt but adapted to beretracted and swung freely out of radial position by encounter with thematerial entering the wheel to permit passage of the material under saidmargins onto the belt.
 2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, in whichthe vane means comprise vanes individually pivotally mounted andindependently oscillatable about such pivoted mountings.
 3. Apparatus inaccordance with claim 1, in which the vane means comprise vanes whichare rigid and responsive to centrifugal force to seek a radial positionduring rapid rotation of the wheel.
 4. Apparatus in accordance withclaim 1, in which the vane means comprise vanes which are so freelyoscillatable as to exert no force upon the material on the belt in theabsence of centrifugal force resulting from rapid rotation of the wheel.